Sweetest Defeat
by Rune of the Wind
Summary: [Beginning of Golden Pair][ONESHOT] Eiji loses a match with Oishi and Fuji makes him buy his friend icecream . Some fluff.


Sweetest Defeat

Everyone watching was silent. Fuji stood at the fence, watching his best friend with a surprised expression, a touch of concern in his voice.

"Kikumaru?"

His name jolted the redhead out of his stupor. He had been staring at the spot where the ball had bounced past him.

"Kikumaru, _Daijobu ka_?" Fuji asked, taking a step towards him.

Eiji looked up, but not at Fuji. He directed his glare over the net, to his opponent; the winner of the match. It wasn't expected! That Oishi kid couldn't have been better than him! Nothing could get past his acrobatics!

"Kikumaru-kun, are you alright?" His opponent had stepped up to the net, frowning.

Eiji clenched his fists. How _dare_ he ask if he was all right! Of course he wasn't!

"You…" he began, a full pout beginning to form. "That was no fair! You cheated!"

Oishi blinked, staring for a bit. "I…What?"

"That's right, you must've cheated or something." Eiji raised a hand to scratch at the band-aid over his nose. "It's the only way you could've beaten me…" He narrowed his eyes. "_Nya_…Apologize!"

"W-what?" Oishi took a step back, startled. He then began to look angry. "Why should I apologize? You're the one who lost!"

"How-!"

"Kikumaru!" Fuji ran up to the redhead, standing in between him and Oishi. Fuji gave a small smile. "It's all right. Just a small match. These don't even count. You can still become a Regular…"

"It's not that!" Eiji huffed, finally looking down at his friend. "He beat me and he won't even apologize! What a jerk!"

"I'd appreciate not being called names." Oishi had come around the net, still looking quite angry. "There's no reason to call me a jerk."

"Yes there is!" Eiji glared. "You won't apologize!"

"I don't have to apologize for anything!" Oishi couldn't help but raise his voice. The other boy was so frustrating…

"Yes you do!"

"_Maa_, maybe you should apologize to each other?"

The two paused in their little quarrel, looking towards Fuji. "What?" they said in unison.

"Well, Oishi beat Kikumaru and hurt his feelings by not apologizing, and Kikumaru started yelling at Oishi for no reason." The brunet smiled in his strange way. "So you both should apologize."

They were both speechless for a moment, before Oishi heaved a sigh. "Fine. I'm sorry I beat you and hurt your feelings." He just wanted to get this over with. They were drawing a crowd…

"Hah." Eiji stuck his tongue out. "That's better, jerk."

"Kikumaru…" Fuji crossed his arms, voice stern.

With an over exaggerated sigh, Eiji looked away. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry I called you names and yelled at you." He pouted.

Fuji smiled again. "Good, now Oishi, you can treat him to ice cream. Strawberry's his favourite."

"W-what?" Oishi looked up, surprise written all over his face. "But I-"

"Yay! Ice cream!"

"But I don't-" Oishi began, but stopped when he saw Fuji looking at him in that weird way of his. It made a shiver go down his spine. "O…okay…" He frowned. He didn't see why he should have to do something like this.

"Good. You'll appreciate it later." Fuji smiled, leaving Oishi confused as ever.

A minute or two later, as Oishi was still trying to figure out how he'd been forced into this, their buchou called the practice to an end. He cleaned up and changed, thoughts occupied. As he left the clubhouse, he spotted the redhead waiting for him.

Eiji bounced over, his duffel bag over one shoulder.

"_Nya_! Come on!"

It was kind of weird, having someone wait for you like that. He wasn't used to it. Oishi adjusted the strap of his bag over his own shoulder, nodding slowly. "O-okay."

They walked in a bit of an awkward silence towards the ice cream stand just a block away from Seishun Gakuen, by the park.

When they got there, Eiji immediately asked for strawberry, grinning excitedly like a child would. Oishi asked for vanilla, fishing the money out from his back pocket. He paid for them both, then was dragged by the redhead to sit at a bench nearby.

The two sat in silence for a while, the only sound being Eiji's small content noises as he licked at his ice cream. After about five minutes of this, Eiji sighed.

Oishi glanced up. "What, is something wrong?"

The redhead shook his head no, staring at his half finished cone. "Thank you…"

"Um…you're welcome." Oishi turned back to his plain vanilla ice cream, unaware of the small blush on his cheeks.

"I was being really stupid, wasn't I…" Eiji stated, sighing again. He took a long lick of his ice cream, not as enthusiastic about it anymore. "I'm sorry, nya…"

Oishi blinked, nodding. "It's okay…it was only a practice match. You still have plenty of times to beat me."

Eiji looked up, smiling now. "Yeah. I'll get you back…but then maybe Fuji will make me pay for your ice cream if I do…" He pouted.

Oishi couldn't help it. He laughed, smiling now too. "So you'll lose on purpose then?"

"Only if it means you'll treat me more often!" Eiji grinned, taking a big bite from the remains of his cone.

Oishi laughed again, going back to his ice cream as well. "I guess…"

"So you will!" Eiji's grin widened.

"Maybe…if you're good…"

"You're the best, Oishi!" The redhead nearly tackled the other in a hug, holding the remains of his ice cream high above his head lest he drop it.

Oishi chuckled, holding his own forgotten cone out of reach.

"You gonna finish that?" Eiji blinked, glancing over at the vanilla treat with a grin.

"Eh…no. I don't like ice cream much." Oishi handed the cone over to the redhead. "Here. Go ahead."

Without a second thought, Eiji shoved the leftovers of his cone into his mouth, taking Oishi's.

"Mmm…_oishii_…" He snickered, glancing over at the other boy before starting on the vanilla ice cream.

"Not funny." Oishi rolled his eyes with good humour, leaning back against the bench. "Hey…how about we have a rematch afterwards? If you win, then I'll buy you another ice cream. If I win…" He smiled. "Then you have to promise to play doubles with me when we go to practice again tomorrow."

Eiji blinked, licking a bit of vanilla that managed to drip onto his hand from the cone. "Doubles…?" He knew a bit about it, and was curious to play. "Sure! Lemme just finish this then." He grinned.

"Perfect."

They left for the street courts afterwards, the setting sun creating a golden glow over the pair. Eiji ended up losing again, but he didn't mind as much. He got to play doubles with Oishi after all.

"We'll be the coolest doubles pair in Japan!" The redhead imagined. "We'll be called something cool, like…The Super Pair! Or the Awesome Pair! Or…"

"How about Golden?" Oishi offered.

"Golden?" Eiji paused in thought. "The Golden Pair…" he mumbled, liking the sound of it. "Yeah! We'll be the Golden Pair!"

"Golden Pair it is then." Oishi smiled.

The two newfound friends made off into the sunset together, eager to start training the next day.

"…How about the Fantastic Pair instead?"

OWARI

Glossary

_Daijobu ka?—_Are you okay?

_Nya _– a nonsensical cat sound Eiji makes.

_Maa_- something like "Well…"

_Oishii_ - means 'delicious' or 'tasty' in Japanese, but since it's so similar to 'Oishi', Eiji was teasing.

_Owari –_ means 'the end' or 'finished'.


End file.
